The Mets are able to knock off a 100 win team and move on after six games where their bats proved the better of the fabled Dodger pitching. Tom Glavine pitched like the Hall of Famer in the opening game showing poise in a shutout despite his advancing age. The Mets took all three games at Dodger Stadium and looked quite under the sun. Sandy Koufax pitched quite the game in game three as the Mets went on a minirun to tie the series, but Johny Podres had issues in both his starts including losing to Steve Traschel in the sixth game.

The Mets batted .333 as a team and had contributors like Carlos Beltran who hit .440 and Jose Reyes who was the perfect man at the top of the Mets order. Maury Wills gave the Dodgers a stellar leadoff man as well but the lack of power in the middle of the Dodger lineup proved to be a factor in these games. This Mets team seems to be quite better when they play as the underdog.

Other then a dominant pitching performance by Rip Sewell in game four that gave the Pirates a 2-0 win this series was controlled and dominated by the aging but able SF Giants. Sewell had actually pitched well in game one but was paced by Juan Marichal and the Giants got to the Pirate relievers late and won the opener going away. Behind Gaylord Perry the Giants won game 2 by ten runs and Steve Stone was solid in the clinching game as the Giants took four out of five.

The older Giant bats such as Willie Mays and Willie McCovey were at their ripe best contributing 14 RBI in the series. The Pirates on the other hand hit .144 as a team and were in a fog for most of the series. Long story short in this one the better team wrapped things up quickly.

Tony LaRussa always has his teams ready to play and his strategy to beat the 1997 Giants and slugger Barry Bonds worked out just as planned after Chicago swept away the Giants in four straight games. Aftery fighting out the first two games in Comiskey Park by a single run, the Sox had an easier time of it in the Bay and closed things out. La Marr Hoyt was the star of the clinching game earning the win and hitting a first inning grand slam with the bat to humble the Giants.

Bonds did hit .313 with a couple of home runs and did his part, but the Sox arms avoided the big innings and pitched around Bonds when they had the chance; backup hitters like JT Snow (.111) and Jeff Kent (.188) made the plan work well. Shawn Estes in this series allowed 14 earned runs and walked 11 men in his weak 9 innings of work. The White Sox were the much better team here hands down.

Another outstanding series not decided until the last out. Red Barrett and Pete Alexander faced off no less then three times in this series as it went the distance. Barrett carried his team is a shutout of game four and then a thrilling 2-1 win in game seven as the Cardinals did just enough to beat the Phillies. Pitching was definitely the story throughout even if the defense behind the pitcher wasn’t the greatest. Both teams had ERA’s under three and let their starters throw deep into games.

Other stars were Whitey Kurowski who hit .500 for the series driving in five behind 14 hits. Kurowski was so consistent in the middle of the Cardinal lineup that he soon began to be pitched around. Dave Bancroft was the best bat for the Phillies going deep twice in game in game three and batting .435.

Glad to see Red Barrett have a good series. He is from my home town. Barrett holds the record for the fastest 9 inning complete game in history, and he also threw the fewest pitches ever to do it. The game, in 1944, lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes and he only needed a ridiculous 58 pitches to record the 2-0 shutout.

Younger, faster, and more explosive the 1963 Cardinals made easy work of the 1921 Indians in what was as one sided of a series as we have seen yet. The Cardinals an eye opening .396 as a team and never were challenged by anyone in the Cleveland staff. George Altman smacked 11 hits in four games while Curt Flood batted .450 and Dick Groat .444. Ernie Broglio won the first and the last game of the series while young Bob Gibson wasn’t dominant, but did enough to win game two and break Cleveland’s back at home.

With an ERA well over 7.00, Steve Covelski was one of many Indian pitchers who saw red all series and allowed more earned runs then innings pitched. The Indians were competitive and even held the lead for game one but when they dropped the game by a run, the rest of the series turned into a runaway. The Cardinal teams of the 1960’s will be a very good group to watch progress.

In game seven John McGraw and his men put down the hammer to end a very close and deeply contested series that went the full seven games. The Giants murdered the Senators at Griffith Stadium 12-1, beating Walter Johnson in the process as the Washington ace was betrayed by bad defense, but still wasn’t himself with a 5.05 ERA in three starts. The home team had taken everygame of the series up until game seven with the most memorable being game six that went 14 innings, the longest game we have seen yet. The Senators refused to lose and fought back twice down to their last out to win 8-6 and even the series.

The hero for the Giants had to be Fred Toney who became the only player to win three games as he won all his starts and even made a relief appearance in the series. Toney allowed an amazing one earned run in 29 innings, truly a masterful effort. Other stars for the Giants included Ross Youngs (.400) and Larry Doyle (.333). There was only one home run hit in this entire series which was a great one.

The Pirate bats were just too much in this series as Jim Leyland and Pittsburgh hit .327 as a team and scored 48 runs in the six game series win over Chicago. Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke were in particular lethal batting .449 between them; this was the young Bonds that could steal bases and change the complexion of a game without the long ball. Zane Smith turned out to be the ace on the mound for the Pirates winning two games and with a 2.94 ERA. The Cubs swung the bats well also with Billy Herman driving in 9 and batting .393.

In their four wins Pittsburgh scored almost four runs a game including 14 runs in game two and raking the ball at Wrigley Field where they took two out of three. The decider back in Pittsburgh was a close one but Stan Hack couldn’t come through in the final inning with the tying run 90 feet away. The Pirates were deserved winners and have weapons on offense that rarely can be slowed down as the Cubs found out with their 8.09 team ERA, the highest we have seen so far.